Dear Members,

This month, as I continued to reach out to you all for your thoughts about the club, I made a short visit to see a few of our members in the Boston area. If I missed you, don't worry … I'll be back.

I spent an extremely pleasant afternoon with Brad Washburn and his wife, Barbara. Among the highlights that day was thanking Brad for the new-route inspiration that his photos have provided to me and my partners over the years. Indeed, we were so thankful that we named one route after him: The Washburn Face on Denali (see the 1992 American Alpine Journal, page 68).

You either have or are about to receive this year’s Journal. Former AAJ editor Ad Carter called it the “book of dreams.” Indeed, the photos and accounts by Washburn and thousands of other climbers in the AAJ have set me to dreaming countless times. Between this year’s beautiful volume and the accompanying climber’s map to Kyrgyzstan, I hope you find plenty of inspiration to explore new ideas and destinations for your own climbing.

Phil Powers
Executive Director
ppowers@americanalpineclub.org


 2005 AAJ, ACCIDENTS ON THEIR WAY

The 2005 editions of the American Alpine Journal and Accidents in North American Mountaineering are on their way to members. Inserted in the AAJ as a bonus is a superb, four-color climber’s map of Kyrgyzstan, produced by Garth Willis and Martin Gamache of the Alpine Mapping Guild (www.alpinemapguild.com).  This map will be available to non-members through www.mountaineersbooks.org.
International members of the AAC will be pleased to learn they should receive these books very promptly this year. Through an outsourcing decision that was out of the AAC’s control, all of last year’s international copies were shipped via slow boat to India. Though this may have expedited delivery to the one AAC member living in India, it meant months of delay for our many other international members.

This year, a slight increase in the international members’ postal surcharge will allow us to get books to foreign members about the same time as U.S. members receive them.
If any member has not received his or her AAJ or Accidents by mid-October, please contact the office at getinfo@americanalpineclub.org.

AAJ DISCOVERS SCOTLAND AND NEW ZEALAND!
Elite and worldly mountaineers may be aware that there are mountains in Scotland and New Zealand. There is even a mountain range spanning Europe that you may have heard of. But you wouldn’t learn any of this by studying the Climbs & Expeditions section of the AAJ in the last few decades. Exactly how these ranges sank into oblivion remains a mystery, but it likely had something to do with space constraints in the AAJ. (If you were on Ad Carter’s editorial board and privy to such discussions, please write to johnharlin@gorge.net with these and other tales.) Beginning this year, Scotland and New Zealand have entered the world’s journal of record through summaries of significant activity in these countries’ ranges. Perhaps soon, Europe’s mystery mountains will emerge from their fog of obscurity.

“VERTICAL LIMIT” NOT A GOOD MOVIE AFTER ALL

 

“Vertical Limit,” the 2000 film in which star Chris O’Donnell rescues his sister high on an ersatz K2, concocted some of the most absurd climbing moves ever shown on the silver screen. Yet the movie has grossed more than $200 million worldwide. Now it turns out that some movie-goers may have been lured to “Vertical Limit” under false pretenses. Sony, parent company of the studio that made “Vertical Limit,” has agreed to pay $1.5 million in a settlement of claims that it invented a fake critic who praised various Sony titles in promos. That’s justice, but we think Sony also ought to pay for convincing “Vertical Limit” viewers that nitro is part of every mountaineer’s standard kit.

[Right] Ice climbing 101: The running start.

PLANS SET FOR FLAGSTAFF AAC GATHERING

Please join the Board of Directors of the AAC in Flagstaff, Arizona, for a weekend of activities. At 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 9, Conrad Anker will present a slide show on the Sherpa Climbing School in Nepal at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. On Saturday, any AAC member is welcome to attend the fall Board meeting and learn more about the Club’s plans, and Saturday evening there will be cocktails (6 p.m.) and a barbecue (7 p.m.) for climbers in the area. Please RSVP to getinfo@americanalpineclub.org. On Sunday, join the Board for some knuckle-wrecking crack climbing on the smooth basalt of Paradise Forks.

DISTANCE HIKING RECORDS FALL
Next time you head out for a weekend jaunt on the Pacific Crest Trail or the Appalachian Trail, consider two speed records set this summer…and weep. David Horton, 55, from Lynchburg, Virginia, smashed the Pacific Crest Trail thru-hiking record by an amazing 16 days, finishing on his 67th day of running and hiking. Fully supported with a crew providing meals and supplies, Horton averaged about 40 miles a day on the 2,666-mile trail. To see a daily log of Horton’s hike, visit www.montrail.com.

Meanwhile, on the Eastern Seaboard, 29-year-old Andrew Thompson from New Hampshire shaved about a day off the record for hiking the 2,174-mile Appalachian Trail. On his third try at this record, Thompson completed the hike in 47 and a half days, averaging almost 46 miles a day with support from one teammate. His account is at www.inov-8.com/TrailDogNews.htm.

U.S. YOUTH CLIMBING TEAM HEADS TO CHINA
Forty-three American climbers between the ages of 14 and 19 are attending the 2005 World Youth Championship in Beijing, China, Aug. 25-28. The youths will compete in three age groups in lead climbing and speed; more than 350 young climbers from around the world will be competing.

The U.S. team was chosen in early July in Massachusetts at a comp organized by USA Climbing (www.usaclimbing.org). The AAC, as the U.S. member of the UIAA, is the sanctioning body for competition climbing in the United States, and has designated USA Climbing as the sport’s governing organization. To see how the U.S. climbers fared, visit www.icc-info.org.

NEW MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR JOINS AAC TEAM
That friendly new voice you hear on the phone at the AAC is Dana Richardson, who brings many years of experience with outdoor nonprofits to the AAC as its new membership coordinator. Dana most recently worked in the Outdoor Industry Association’s marketing and membership departments. She was hired to fill the chair vacated by Jason Manke, who has been promoted to a new position, Membership Director, at the AAC. Manke, who has worked for the club for more than two years, will be in charge of all membership recruitment and retention, as well as the club’s increased efforts to promote camaraderie and fellowship among climbers.

AAC GEAR AVAILABLE ONLINE

Brand-new American Alpine Club T-shirts, coffee mugs, and other logo-emblazoned items are now available for purchase online, thanks to corporate sponsor Mountain Gear. A percentage of the proceeds from each sale goes directly to the AAC. Check it out at www.mountaingear.com/AAC 

[Right] The 11th Essential, available through www.mountaingear.com/AAC

DISCOUNT ON CUSTOM FOOTBEDS
Dr. Thomas Chanin, owner of The Custom Foot in Colorado, is offering a 15 percent discount on custom footbeds and boot fitting to AAC members. He specializes in telemark/ski boots, mountaineering boots, hiking/walking shoes, snowboard boots, and foot and gait analysis. Chanin’s retail shop is located in The Bent Gate store in Golden, Colorado (303-279-6500), and his web site is www.thecustomfoot.com.

RECORDING THE AAC’S ORAL HISTORY
The American Alpine Club Library has been invited to contribute several oral histories to a federally funded project that will yield digital master files and transcriptions of interviews conducted with Charles Houston, Bob Bates, and others. “Sound Model: Collaborative Infrastructure for Digital Audio” is a project of the Collaborative Digitization Program, funded through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Sound Model grant will create a shared infrastructure that may make it possible to provide web access to the AAC’s mountaineering oral histories, easily create sound modules for the American Mountaineering Museum, and preserve the original tapes for the future. The Collaborative Digitization Program web site is www.cdpheritage.org

NORTHWEST MOUNTAINEERING JOURNAL POSTED
The second annual edition of the superb online magazine Northwest Mountaineering Journal has been released. The new issue, spearheaded by longtime Pacific Northwest climber and skier Lowell Skoog, contains articles and photos on new routes, alpine traverses and influential climbers. See it (free) at www.nwmj.org.

 

COMING EVENTS
September 9-11
Arizona
AAC Board Meeting and gathering in Flagstaff, with Conrad Anker slide show, a barbecue and climbing. Contact getinfo@americanalpineclub.org.

September 14 and 15
Colorado
Longtime AAC member David Roberts will speak about the risks of climbing and read from his new book at the REI stores in Denver (Sept. 14) and Boulder (Sept. 15), 7 p.m. each night. www.rei.com/stores.

September 16
Colorado
The 4th annual Avalanche Jam, hosted by Backcountry Access, will bring music, food and a silent auction to the American Mountaineering Center in Golden, from 5 to 10 p.m., to raise money for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. Tickets are $30 in advance, $35 at the door. Info at 303-417-1345 or steve@bcaccess.com.

September 18-19
Utah
The 4th annual Climb for Life in Salt Lake City. Join Katie Brown, Nancy Feagin, Stephanie Forte, Nate Gold, Lisa Gnade, Steve Petro, Alli Rainey, Lisa Rands, Heidi Wirtz and other top climbers to raise funds and awareness for prevention and early detection of ovarian cancer. See www.climb4life.org.

September 24
Massachusetts
Enjoy ClimbFest, an outdoor climbing competition and festival at the Quincy quarries near Boston. See www.climbfest.com.

September 30–October 2
California.
The 9th Annual Climb Smart Gathering at Indian Cove group campgrounds, hosted by Friends of Joshua Tree, features clinics, gear raffles, food and entertainment. See www.friendsofjosh.org.

October 15
Texas
The 2005 Granite Gripper climbing and bouldering contests at Enchanted Rock. Info and registration materials at www.granitegripper.com.

February 10-12
New Hampshire
The 2006 AAC Mountain Fest and annual meeting will be based at the Attitash Grand Summit Hotel, smack in the middle of the White Mountains. Stay tuned for details at www.americanalpineclub.org.

 

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